Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry- A 7th Grader's Epilogue
by Most.High.Alpha
Summary: What do you think a 7th grader would write if they are assigned to make an unofficial epilogue to Mildred D. Taylor's book, "Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry?" Read and find out.


**_Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry_** **Epilogue**

May 13, 1955. It has been almost twenty years since T.J. had passed away and cotton prices dropped a lot lately. Little Man, Claude, Christopher-John, Stacey, Candace -Stacey's wife- and I walked into the cemetery to visit T.J.'s grave, each of us carrying flowers. "Been a long twenty years T.J," Stacey said, "You'd be happy them Wallaces are long gone." Stacey looked at the grave and set down the flowers. "Well, I got ya somethin' ya gonna love," he said. He reached into his pockets and took out a picture of a house, the new Avery house and set it down. The rest of us put our flowers at the side of the grave.

I looked at Stacey. His face was serious. I took a glance at the others. The expressions were the same on everyone's faces. "Ya'll alright? Ya'll been looking like dead goats ever since Big Ma jumped off a cliff." I zoned out, remembering that terrible day.

 _Big Ma passed a couple of years ago. Papa said that she was diagnosed with Schizophrenia, a disease that makes the person have visual hallucinations. She thought she saw Grandpa at Strawberry and started following him. Because of her hallucinations, she thought that she was at a pond with Grandpa. She was gonna jump into what she thought was the pond, but was actually a cliff in reality. Papa and I were with her that day. We followed her to the cliffs. Papa told me to stay put and wait for him. He went closer, yelling at Big Ma telling her not to jump off the cliff. She turned around. "What cliff, David?" Big Ma asked. "I ain't seeing no cliff, son. You and Cassie are just imagining things. Come on, join Paul Edward and me!" She jumped off the cliff, Papa weeping and yelling for medical assistance._

"Cassie, Cassie?" Little Man asked, bringing me back to reality. "Are you okay? You passed out. What happened?"

I looked around. The room looked oddly familiar. We weren't at the graveyard anymore. "Oh, I just remembered when Big Ma jumped off that cliff. Anyway, where are we?" I asked. I pinched myself to make sure I wasn't just hallucinating. "I thought we was gonna head over to Big Ma's grave. Ya know, jus' to visit her."

Christopher-John examined my face and said, "We're at home. Little Man and I brought ya here while Stacey and Claude headed back to the field to tend to the crops. Stacey brought Candace back to their house so that she could take care of Casey and Karina. "

"Where's Mama and Papa?" I asked. "And why'd Claude help with the crops and not you two? This field ain't his! Ya'll being lazy, aren't you?" I knew that Christopher-John didn't like to be called lazy. He dashed out the door, headed to the field to help Stacey and Claude. "How 'bout you, Little Man? Ain't no use sitting here watching me. Get ready for your job interviews. We got a lot of money to get. Is Mr. Morrison with Mama and Papa?"

"Yeah. Mr. Morrison is with Mama and Papa at Vicksburg checking out Mama's new job."

"Okay. Go on now," I ordered. I looked out at the field, watching Christopher-John and Stacey tending to the field. I stood up, looking out the front door. I saw a car approaching the house. A familiar face we haven't seen for a while. It was Uncle Hammer. "Little Man, Stacey, Christopher-John, come quick! It's Uncle Hammer!" I looked at the field. Christopher-John and Stacey ditched Claude and raced up to the house to greet Uncle Hammer. Little Man wasn't with them though. "Where's Little Man?", I asked, "Ain't he with ya'll down at the fields?" I looked at Christopher-John. He shrugged. I looked at the field then to the front, where Uncle Hammer was.

"Cassie, Stacey," Uncle Hammer yelled, "Help me put Clayton-Chester into the car!" Little Man? Worried, I ran out of the door to where Uncle Hammer was.

I looked at Little Man, then at Uncle Hammer. "What happened?" I observed the new Packard. What used to be pure white, had fresh, crimson splats on it; like someone had spilled red paint on the car. I studied my youngest brother more closely down at Little Man. His stomach was bruised, his arm was underneath the front car wheel, and . Uncle Hammer, Stacey, and I removed Little Man's arm from under the car and loaded him into the car. "Christopher-John, take care of the field and house okay?" I asked firmly, leaving no room for complaints. We rushed into the car and brought Little Man to the Hospital in Strawberry.

A white female doctor walked up to us as Stacey and Uncle Hammer carried Man inside the hospital. "Oh my." she said, covering her mouth with her hand in shock. "Follow me. I'll get you in as soon as I can." She rushed through the hospital halls and set up a place in the Emergency Room.


End file.
